Cambodian court convicts 13 Philippine women in commercial surrogacy case

A Cambodian court convicted 13 Filipino women on human trafficking-related charges even though the Philippine Embassy said they were recruited online to be surrogate mothers and were rescued from a home outside of Phnom Penh.

The women were pregnant at the time of their arrest in September, but it was unclear how many were still pregnant this week.

The 13 were sentenced to four years in prison for “attempting to engage in human trafficking for cross-border trafficking,” but will serve only two years in prison with the remainder of the sentence suspended, the Kandal Provincial Court said in a statement on Monday.

There was strong evidence that the 13 Filipinas “intended to use surrogacy to create babies with the intention of selling them to a third party in exchange for money,” a court spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“This act must be defined as a human trafficking offense,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The women were arrested on Sept. 23 at a home in Kandal province outside of Phnom Penh where authorities found 20 Filipinas, four Vietnamese and one Cambodian woman.

In October, the Philippine Embassy said the Filipina women were recruited online “by an individual whose identity and nationality have yet to be determined conclusively.”

“The recruiter with an apparently assumed name arranged for the women to travel to another Southeast Asian country but eventually sent them to Cambodia,” the embassy said in an Oct. 8 statement, which referred to the Sept. 23 police raid on the Kandal home as a “rescue.”

Eleven women who weren’t pregnant were deported while the 13 pregnant Filipinas were charged under Cambodia’s human trafficking law, which has included a ban on commercial surrogacy since 2016.

Philippine assistance

The women were held at a medical facility under police protection and received health care and other assistance from Philippine and Cambodian authorities during the judicial process, the Philippine Embassy said in a statement on Monday.

The trial on Nov. 28 and 29 was held behind closed doors, according to the court. The women were provided legal representation by the embassy.

“Filipino citizens are reminded that Cambodia strictly prohibits commercial surrogacy, and traveling to Cambodia for surrogacy arrangements could result in imprisonment,” the Philippine Embassy said in Monday’s statement.

A rights activist questioned the decision.

The court should provide more information about why it determined that the women were perpetrators – instead of victims – of human trafficking, said Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho.

“It is important that the authorities and the court show transparency in the investigation,” he told Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews, on Tuesday. “This is important to avoid controversy and criticism of the trial.”

Also convicted in the case was a Cambodian woman who cleaned the house and prepared food for the women. She was convicted of “conspiracy in attempted human trafficking for smuggling” and “failure to report a crime,” according to the court.

She was sentenced to six months in prison, but has already served two months and one day, with the remainder of the sentence suspended, the court said.